Anita Ekberg, actress who rose to fame in Fellini films, dies

Associated Press

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3:53 pm PST, Sunday, January 11, 2015

(FILE PHOTO) Swedish actress Anita Ekberg known for her role in the 1960 movie La Dolce Vita has died in Rome today after a series of illnesses. circa 1955: The Swedish actress Anita Ekberg, known as 'The Iceberg'. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images) less

(FILE PHOTO) Swedish actress Anita Ekberg known for her role in the 1960 movie La Dolce Vita has died in Rome today after a series of illnesses. circa 1955: The Swedish actress Anita Ekberg, known as 'The ... more

Photo: Hulton Archive / Getty Images

Photo: Hulton Archive / Getty Images

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(FILE PHOTO) Swedish actress Anita Ekberg known for her role in the 1960 movie La Dolce Vita has died in Rome today after a series of illnesses. circa 1955: The Swedish actress Anita Ekberg, known as 'The Iceberg'. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images) less

(FILE PHOTO) Swedish actress Anita Ekberg known for her role in the 1960 movie La Dolce Vita has died in Rome today after a series of illnesses. circa 1955: The Swedish actress Anita Ekberg, known as 'The ... more

Photo: Hulton Archive / Getty Images

Anita Ekberg, actress who rose to fame in Fellini films, dies

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MILAN — Anita Ekberg, the Swedish-born actress and sex symbol of the 1950s and ’60s who was immortalized bathing in the Trevi fountain in “La Dolce Vita,” has died. She was 83.

Ms. Ekberg’s lawyer, Patrizia Ubaldi, confirmed she died Sunday in Rome after a series of illnesses.

Ms. Ekberg had long lived in Italy, the country that gave her worldwide fame thanks to the dip opposite Marcello Mastroianni. The scene where the blond bombshell, clad in a black dress, her arms wide open, calls out “Marcello” remains one of the most famous images in film history.

Her curvaceous body and glamorous social life made her a favorite of tabloid press in the 1950s and 1960s. She married twice but never had children — a fact she came to regret later in her life. Some gossip magazines called her the Iceberg in a nod to her Scandinavian background.

Born on Sept. 29, 1931, in the southern city of Malmo, Ms. Ekberg grew up with seven siblings.

In 1951 she won the Miss Sweden competition, after being recommended to enter by organizers who saw her on the street, and went to the United States to compete for the Miss Universe title. She didn’t win but became a model in Hollywood and later started taking on small acting roles.

Her role in Federico Fellini’s “La Dolce Vita” — where she played a movie star — shot her to stardom. Ms. Ekberg remained in Italy for years, appearing in scores of movies, many forgettable. She returned in two Fellini movies: “Clowns” and “Intervista.”

Ms. Ekberg married Briton Anthony Steel in 1956 but divorced him four years later. In 1963, she married again to actor Rik Van Nutter, but that marriage also failed.

In an interview with Swedish tabloid Aftonbladet in 2006, Ms. Ekberg said her only regret in life was never having children.

“I would have liked to have a child, preferably a son,” she was quoted as saying. “It didn’t turn out that way. That’s life. You just have to accept it.”

In the interview, she also said she wasn’t afraid of death.

“I don’t know if paradise or hell exist, but I’m sure hell is more groovy.”